by Puneet Singh
With all the hoop-lah surrounding the summer transfer window, with the who goes where and "we should get him" non-sense I'm looking back at the Manchester United squad with content.
Many will believe that I am insane because not only did we sign a little known Ecuadorian in Luis Valencia and a no name Frenchman in Gabriel Oberton, but we let two of our prominent players leave this summer in Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.
While Madrid and Manchester City have nabbed everyone anyone could desire in the market, United have addressed NEEDS over luxaries, thus making the signings of Michael Owen along with Valencia all that's required at Old Trafford.
The depth at United is remarkable compared to some other clubs. With versatile players and hard nose grinders, United is composed of every aspect of football, making their strength the ability to change tactics on the fly.
What Valencia lacks in flair that Ronaldo possessed on the right side of the midfield, he makes up with his grit, hard work and constant hustle; something that Ronaldo did not always give us. Back tracking, good dribbling and excellent passing, Valencia has what it takes to fit right into Fergie's plan and thrive at United.
As Owen proved in the friendly the other day, he still has his scoring boots on and knows how to get it done when needed. We don't need him to score 30 goals like Ronaldo, we just need him to chip in in a key situation and not have to worry about carrying a team. This will take the world off his shoulder's and make his job that much easier.
But more essentially than those two signings, our two major signings have been right in front of us all along, in the form of Owen Hargreaves and Nani.
It should come to no surprise that Hargreaves was dearly missed in the center of the midfield. Hargreaves is the white Michael Essien. That is the only way to put it. He can play all over the backline, all over the midfield and he does it bloody well.
He's one of the key reasons why we couldn't hold our own against Barcelona in the midfield during the Champions League final this year; Xavi and Iniesta were driving through the center of the pitch at will without any force. As shown from the previous CL final against Chelsea in which United prevailed in, Hargreaves had done a superb job keeping everyone at bay and orchestrating the United offsense from the back.
Even at times last year, you could tell United missed Hargreaves muscle. Games that should have been won or at least drawn were dropped. A healthy Hargreaves gives us a bigger weapon than any other signing could offer us and it WILL be proven true once "Hargo" comes back at full strength come September. Premier Leagues be warned.
The other signing that ironically came along with Hargreaves in the summer of 2007 was Luis Nani.
After a magnificent 2007/2008 campaign in which Nani not only delivered wonder goals and assists but also the captivating backflips, he flopped during the 08/09 campaign worse than Greg Louganis at the Olympics(google that one up).
He was expected to be CR7 vol 2.0, but looked more and more like Quaresma in a big league as time went on. He was ultimatley placed in the reserves where he featured more there.
Luckily for Nani's case, Sir Alex Ferguson is giving him a 100% chance to prove his worth this time, hoping to yield positive results from the young Portuguese winger.
Now more than ever is Nani's time to rebound and shine. A platoon of Nani and Valencia would provide United with everything they'd need; solid defense and solid offense.
Liverpool fans are all on cloud nine thinking that they just jumped up a peg for the Premier League title (something the Scouser's haven't won in 20 years or in a better way to put it, since I've entered this earth). Well, I have a reminder for all footballing fans from all different teams: Manchester United on a bad day are still better than you on your best. Best of luck to all in the Premier and Europe this year; you will certainly need it.
No comments:
Post a Comment